


Progress

by Drag0nWr1tes



Series: Too Loud (a Voltron AU series) [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Don't worry, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt Lance, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Keith and Shiro do a lot of that, Lance Needs a Hug, Langst, Lotor is a good guy, M/M, Protective shiro, Rape/Non-Con Mentioned, Therapy, protective keith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-26
Updated: 2018-03-26
Packaged: 2019-04-08 05:05:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14097870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drag0nWr1tes/pseuds/Drag0nWr1tes
Summary: Lance is on his way to going home.





	Progress

Lance was kept in the hospital for a month after he was found. The main reason being that they wanted to make sure that his weight had started to go up at a healthy rate and because they wanted to keep an eye on his mental health. Shay, his psychiatrist and Hunk’s girlfriend, had been the one that had finally made the case for him to be able to go home with Shiro and Keith.

His siblings, Marco, Luis and Veronica, had wanted to take Lance back to Miami with them but Lance had a panic attack at the thought of leaving. He’d clung to Keith like they were going to be pried apart and it had taken him and Shiro an hour to get him to breath again.

Marco hadn’t made the suggestion again.

Despite that little hiccup, his siblings being there helped Lance start to come out of his shell. They reminded him of stories from when they were younger and caught him up on everything he’d missed in the three years since he’d been missing, like Veronica getting married at city hall instead of the big wedding they had been planning. Apparently, she’d been driven nuts by their mother and her husband’s mother fighting it out so she and Nico had eloped.

Lance had laughed so hard he’d started crying when they told him how pissed their mother had been. Shiro and Keith were happy to see him smiling again.

It wasn’t all smiles though, Lance’s parents and grandmother died in a car accident a year after he’d gone missing. When Luis told him, Lance had only cried silently and said he knew.

“You knew?” Veronica asked. She sat on the bed with one of Lance’s hands held tightly in her own.

“Mas—the man that held me, told me,” he whispered. Shiro, Keith and Shay had been working hard to get Lance to stop calling his capturer “Master” it was slow going but working. “He-He showed me the newspaper article when it happened and taunted me with it. When I-I would act up h-he would threaten to go after you guys and he kept tabs on you, all of you.”

Keith clenched his fists and did his best to keep Lance from seeing the anger in his face. Hearing everything that man had done to Lance made Keith want to hunt him down and execute him where he stood. Because she knew him so well, Shay made sure to tell him not let Lance see his anger if possible as it could undo the progress that they were making. Unfortunately, patience wasn’t one of Keith’s stronger qualities.

“Lance,” Shiro asked softly. “How did he keep track of us? Do you know?”

Lance’s bottom lip wobbled and he shook his head. “N-no. He would just show me pictures and videos he kept on his phone of all of you guys working or handing out and-and,” tears spilled down his cheeks as he shook his head. “I-I’m sorry I don’t know I—”

Luis wrapped his arms around his baby brother. “Hey-hey, breath, _hermanito_.” Lance curled into his older brother as Veronica moved to hug his other side.

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Veronica added. “It was that _cobarde_ that was wrong. Not you, never you.”

Marco looked at Shiro, anger clear in his eyes. “Tell me you’ll find the _hijo de puta_ that did this to my baby brother.”

“We’re going to find him,” Shiro said.

“And we’re going to put him in the ground,” Keith added.

Marco nodded but said nothing more.

* * * * *

Lance didn’t like being away from either Shiro or Keith. One of them always needed to be with him otherwise he’d go into a panic attack that would leave him shaky for hours after. The only time they could leave him alone was when he went in for his meetings with Shay.

During his two hour sessions, Shiro would go home and try to get their home in order. All of Lance’s stuff was taken out of the boxes in the spare room where they stored it. They wanted him to have his things back. Stuff to surround himself with normalcy and familiarity. Shiro had even taken to carrying one of Lance’s sketchbooks in case he wanted it.

After Lance had gone missing, Shiro and Keith had actually moved. They’d tried to stay in their home but they just kept seeing the blood that had been all over the living room and bedroom. When the Pidge and her brother Matt had come to examine the crime scene, they had been afraid that the amount of blood they’d found would be too much for Lance to survive. The idea that Lance had died in their apartment had been too much for the two of them to handle. After a month, they’d moved making sure to leave their former landlord with instructions to contact them is Lance ever made his way back to the apartment.

Shiro was a little worried that Lance would be afraid of coming to a new place when he was cleared but Shay thought it would be ok. Apparently having an entirely new home would help bring peace of mind to Lance, this way he wouldn’t need to be reminded of being attacked in their own home.

While Shiro took care of their home, Keith took to stalking Detective Antok to try and find out what they knew about the case. Antok would just shake his head and only give as many updates as he would to any other family member. “You’re not a cop on this case, Keith. You know there isn’t much I can tell you,” he said.

“Antok, please,” Keith practically begged. “It’s _Lance_. Please, you have to give me something.”

Antok shook his head as he looked down at his nephew. “Kid, there isn’t much to tell anyway. We have a few leads but nothing has panned out so far. Whoever did this knew what they were doing. The only real...mistake they left behind was Lance.”

“What do you mean?”

Antok watched him, wondering just how much he should give away. Protocol dictated he didn’t tell him, but this was Keith. His nephew who had all but been broken after Lance had gone missing. “Awhile ago we pulled in a suspect that gave us a little on this criminal ring. It was before Lance was found. ADA Zarkon was able to get some info from him but it wasn’t much.”

“Well, what did he give out?” Keith went from standing next to Antok’s desk to sitting in the chair so that they could talk.

“The guy said that when a ‘client’ rents someone then they’re dropped at one of their locations, like the house we found Lance in, for the client to get to. The only people there are the client, a few low-level thugs who know basically nothing and the victim, in this case, Lance. The ringleader never stays long enough for them to see who the trafficker is.”

Keith’s fists clenched. “So the guy I chased…”

“Was probably a client and not Lance’s abuser.”

The volitial man stood up and started pacing. “Which means finding Lance was just luck because it could have been anyone.”

Antok nodded. “I need to talk to him again, Keith. We got his statement about his abuse but with this information, I need to ask him a few more questions.”

“I don’t know if he can handle it,” Keith clenched his fists as he glared at Antok’s desk.

“I don’t think you’re giving him enough credit,” the older man said. “I’ve been doing this a long time Keith, if Lance can’t handle it I will back off.”

Keith sighed and rubbed his face. “I’ll talk to Lance about it if he’s comfortable enough then I’ll bring him in to talk to you.”

* * * * *

Keith got back to Shay’s office in the hospital just before Lance limped out. He had his arms wrapped securely around himself and he had his eyes trained on the floor.

Shiro was up from his seat and had Lance in his arms. The smaller boy curled into Shiro’s arms and let out a shuddering breath. “Shay?” Shiro asked.

Shay smiled reassuringly. “He’s ok, it was a tougher discussion today.” She looked at Lance. “Lance, why don’t you tell them what we talked about.”

Lance pulled his face from Shiro’s chest. “Shay says I can go home, now.” His fingers tightening in the fabric of the older man’s shirt. “I-if you want me to, that is.”

Shay had warned them of this. Lance didn’t like being away from either of them but he was also afraid of them not really wanting him. Part of Lance had started to believe that they were only taking care of him because they felt obligated to.

“Of course we want you there,” Shiro said. He put his head down so that his nose rested on top of Lance’s hair breathing in the strong odor of the hospital’s soap. Pidge had been the one to help Lance get clean. He hated anyone touching him that he didn’t know but he didn’t want Shiro and Keith to see his injuries. Pidge had been the most neutral option to help him. “It hasn’t been the same without you.”

Lance’s tense muscles relaxed as his eyes darted between Shiro and Keith. “R-really?”

Keith walked over and carefully pried Lance’s fingers from Shiro’s shirt so he could pull him into his own arms. “Really, we’ve missed you so much. It’s too quiet without you.”

Lance’s form all but slumped into Keith as he breathed a sigh of relief. During one of his nightmare, Lance had let slip that his…”master” had sown his lips shut as a punishment for speaking out of turn. That’s where those punctured marks around his lips had come from. Apparently, he’d asked for water when he’d already been given his ration of for the day. Sowing his lips shut had been the man’s second favorite punishment to give Lance.

His first favorite being to tie Lance up and lock him in a room with loud music playing. As a result, Lance hated too much sound. Shiro was still trying to come up with a way to help their boyfriend when he got overstimulated.

“Remember when we told you we got a new place?” Shiro asked.

Lance nodded his head against Keith’s chest.

“We’re right by the lake now,” he said. “There’s even a path that leads to a small dock that right on the water.”

Both Keith and Shiro had been glad to find that Lance still had a love for the water. That hadn’t been beaten out of him while he’d been gone. Once he was feeling ok enough, Shiro wanted to take him on a trip. Both he and Keith had enough vacation time saved up that they could take him on a nice long one.

“Shiro, can I speak with you a moment before you leave?” Shay asked.

“I’ll take Lance to the car,” Keith said. “Come on, Love.”

Lance let himself be lead out of Shay’s waiting room, his movements pliant and exhausted as he always was after a session with Shay.

Shiro watched them go for a moment before turning back to Shay. “What is it?”

Shay smiled, “He’s making really good progress. Opening up more and working through what was done to him, but he’s still emotionally raw. I think it would be best for him to get a service animal.”

Shiro crossed his arms. “I thought that service animals were meant for people with physical disabilities, like blindness?”

She nodded. “They are, but they're also very much a major part of mental health as well. Animals have an effect on calming people when they need it, and a lot of them are extremely protective of their person. Some of the more common ones are called emotional support animals and they don't really need special traing. With Lance, however, I believe it would be best for him to have a service animal due to his oversensitivity, anxiety and PTSD. It would also help Lance become a little less relent on needing Keith and you with him at all times.”

Shiro didn’t mind being there with Lance 24/7. In fact, his protective instincts were screaming at him to be with him right now, but logically that wouldn’t be possible. He and Keith would need to go back to work at some point and that would mean being away from Lance. “How do we get the process going?”

A smile came to Shay’s lips. “I have some paperwork to fill out to make the process start then I’ll set you guys up with a service that trains service animals.”

He nodded. “Is there anything Keith and I should do?”

“Just do some general animal proofing. Once we get the ball rolling the service will give you a list of what you’ll need to do,” she said

“Thanks, Shay, for everything.”

“Of course, now get going. My next appointment should be here soon.”

Shiro laughed and turned to follow after his boyfriends. “Bye Shay. Tell Hunk we said hi.”

* * * * *

Keith didn’t want to bring Lance to talk to Antok right away, but they needed to get it done and over with. Lance was terrified but he agreed to it. He was afraid of going in there alone but he was also afraid of Keith hearing what had been done to him.

Before, Shiro had been the one to go in with him and Antok but not this time. Shiro had to go to testify in court about another case he’d been on so it had to be Keith this time. Lance knew that Keith wasn’t very good at keeping his temper at bay. Going in alone might be better to keep Keith calm but there wasn’t any way that Lance could go in alone.

So, here they were sitting in one of the more comfortable interview rooms. This one had couches, chairs and other things to make it less intimidating for victims to be interviewed. Lance was just glad that he wasn’t in one of those small metallic rooms.

Lance sat close to Keith, their hands gripping one another tightly. He was shaking lightly, the fact that he had to talk about this again was starting to get to him. He’d been hoping he wouldn’t need to. Antok said that they’d try to gather as much information as they could so Lance wouldn’t need to testify.

Antok walked in then, followed by a Lotor Zarkon, the ADA for the department. “Hello Lance, it’s good to see you up and about.”

Most of his bruising had faded now but Lance was still in a great deal of pain at times. “Th-thank you, Detective.”

“You remember ADA Zarkon?”

Lotor had long silver hair that he kept in perfect condition. “Yes, you and Allura use to be partners.”

A small smile came to the man's lips. “Yes, then I decided I prefer working in the courtroom instead of the streets.”

Keith snorted. “I thought it was because the pay was better.”

The jab made Lotor scowl a bit. “More like we needed someone to keep you from blowing our cases with your short temper and our last ADA gave up within a month.”

The bickering made a shy smile come to Lance’s face. He didn’t know Lotor that well but it didn’t matter but he knew that Allura trusted him with her life so that gave him a point in his favor.

“Alright you two back to your corners, let’s get going with this,” Antok said. He directed his attention back to Lance.

Lance dropped his head so his hair fell and covered his face. “Wh-what more do you need to know?”

“You told us how you got there and some of the abuse you suffered, can you tell us anything about the organization? Anything that can tell us what they’ve done or how they run their operation?”

Lance closed his eyes and tried to keep from panicking as he thought back to that place. “I-I was really only kept in one place,” he said. “Mas—I mean my capture would only...lend me to people if he felt they earned it o-or I upset him.” He tightened his hands around Keith’s. “Last time I-I upset him when I didn’t please him when—” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

One of Keith’s arms wrapped around Lance’s waist and held him tightly. “It’s ok, Lance.”

Lance took a deep breath and leaned into Keith as much as he could. “He liked it when I knelt a-at his feet wh-when he worked. I-if he had a me-meeting with people I-I ha-had to be on m-my knees o-or—” he took a deep breath before continuing. “Or I would have to su-suck him off.” He felt his stomach rolling and had to bite his lip so he wouldn’t start sobbing. Keith’s arm tightened around him and Lance knew that he was trying to keep from getting angry.

“I know this is hard Lance, but do you remember any names or faces?” Antok asked.

He took a few deep breaths and held tightly to Keith’s hands. “On-only two, hi-his second Haxus who never left hi-his side. H-he would gi-give me to him a-a lot.” Funnily enough, Haxus was less sadistic then his capture had been. Sure he was brutal and it hurt a lot but he didn’t take pleasure in causing Lance as much pain as he could.

“And the other?” Lotor asked.

“Ro-Rolo but I-I never had to do much with him, an-and he was nice to me?”

“Nice?” Antok asked.

“I-if I was _offered_ to hi-him then he would clean me up and-and let me sleep and he-he wouldn’t be l-loud,” he said.

Antok wrote that down and gave an encouraging smile to Lance. “That’s good, Lance. This is going to help us find the people that hurt you. Can you tell us anything more about this Rolo?”

Lance brushed away a few of the tears that slipped down his cheeks. “H-he’s a supplier of some sort, but i-I don’t know what. They used code words.”

Lotor and Antok looked at one another. “Ok, Lance we know this is going to be extremely hard, but we're going to need you to go over everything you can remember from those conversations,” Lotor said.

He didn’t want to do this. Lance wanted to burrow away and never come out until this was all over. “O-ok.”

* * * * *

They were in there talking for four hours. Antok and Lotor had offered to give Lance a break about halfway through but he declined it. Once he got started, he wanted to keep going so he didn’t have to do it again.

When it was finally over, Lance ran into the bathroom and emptied the contents of his stomach into the toilet. Keith rubbing his back as he did so. When he was done, he slumped over into Keith’s arms and sobbed into his chest. “I-I wa-want to leave, now. Can-can we leave? Please?” he whispered.

Keith kissed his temple and helped him up. “Yes, yes we can go in a few minutes. I’m going to talk to my uncle and Lotor real quick then we can go. Shiro might even be done in court and we can leave together. Ok?”

Lance nodded and let Keith lead him from the bathroom and over to the break room. Lance wouldn’t have to be surrounded by so many people and would still be able to see Keith while he talked to Antok and Lotor.

Keith kissed his temple again. “I’ll be right there the entire time. If you need me, shout, ok?”

Lance nodded and wrapped his arms around himself as he watched Keith go. His head was starting to hurt and the precinct was getting to be really loud. He could wait just a little longer. As soon as Keith was done talking then they would go. He didn’t want to cause Keith any more problems than he already did.

His reached up and tried to rub away the headache that was starting. It’s almost over, he could make it just a few more minutes then they would be out of there.

A hand landed on his shoulder and Lance jumped out of his skin.

“Hey hey, it’s ok,” Shiro said as he came into Lance’s line of sight.

Lance breathed a sigh of relief as he moved closer to Shiro. “S-sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, I’m sure you’ve had a long day, but it’s over now.” He wrapped his arms Lance and brought him to his chest. “Where’s Keith?”

“Right here,” Keith said as he approached. “I just needed to finish talking to Uncle and Lotor. You ok Lance?”

Lance peeked out from his place in Shiro’s arms. “Y-yeah.”

Somewhere out in the bullpen, someone dropped something metallic and it made Lance whimper and cover his ears. One of Shiro’s arms came up and gently rubbed at the base of Lance’s skull. “Let’s get him out of here,” he said.

Keith nodded. “Let’s get him home.”


End file.
